Disneyland Halts Some Annual Passes to Aid in Crowd Control

Walt Disney Co.’s two California theme parks will stop selling some annual passes at discounted rates to Southern California residents, ending a popular program before a major new attraction, “Star Wars” land, opens in 2019.(Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)

The Southern California resident pass, which included access on 200 select days a year, had sold for $469. It is on hiatus, the company said.

The company continues to offer three other types of annual passes priced from $339 to $1,049.

The less expensive passes limit access on holidays and peak travel times.

The pass being eliminated included access on Sundays, a particularly busy day for locals.

Disney, the world’s largest theme-park operator, has been raising prices and introducing demand-based ticketing in recent years as it continues to invest in new attractions including a “Guardians of the Galaxy” ride in Anaheim, California, and an “Avatar” themed area in Orlando, Florida, that opened this year.

“We continuously seek the appropriate balance that helps manage demand for our product and allows us to deliver a world-class experience for all guests,” the company said in a statement.

Theme parks were the only one of Disney’s four divisions to show profit growth for the fiscal year that ended in September.

Last week, the division let approximately 145 employees go, out of a total parks workforce of 145,000.